Georgette Braun: Rockford business owner cashing in on vintage sounds

Sunday

Jul 13, 2014 at 2:00 PM

There’s a new Rockford connection to sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, and it’s tied to some of the biggest names in entertainment.

Mark Peabody, owner of Sounds Classic and Video Lab at 4444 Center Terrace, this summer delivered 31 pieces of 1970s-era stereo and recording studio equipment for an untitled HBO pilot about the history of rock and roll.

And one of the executive producers for the TV show, which could become a series? Mick Jagger, lead singer of The Rolling Stones, whom I saw — from the third row — perform at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago in the early 1970s. The place was packed, it was a blast, and it was the first and last time I saw the best band of my youth.

The director is Martin Scorsese, director of several dark films, including the mob flick “Goodfellas” (1990), which I’ve seen at least a half dozen times. When I’m scrolling through my cable TV guide, I can’t pass it by.

The pilot is set in 1970s New York and explores the sleazy sex- and drug-fueled music business as both the disco and punk genres were developing.

Peabody told me that TV production folks found his store via his website, and you can see the pieces he sold for an amount he won’t disclose at soundsclassic.com/rock_n_roll_props.htm

The 32-year-old business specializes in vintage stereo repair and restoration. It employs seven technicians and three people in the office.

Its showroom is filled with speakers, amplifiers, turntables and stereo cabinets. The most expensive piece: a trapezoidal wooden cabinet speaker with two 15-inch woofers that drive the bass valued at $16,000.

The basement of the store is packed with stereo equipment, too, as well as a warehouse. Most of the equipment is used for replacement parts for restorations.

Peabody said his business is one of three in the U.S. that offers full-service stereo restoration. Rockford “provides us with a wonderful base of operation” because of the city’s manufacturing base, he said. “We can literally have anything re-manufactured here, which is key to our restoration process.”

The quality of the sound that vintage stereo equipment produces is better than most of what’s available through today’s MP3s and Bluetooth devices, Peabody added.

He buys vintage equipment through “pickers” across the country, auctions and people who call him with finds at garage sales.

Monte Baldwin of Rockford, a friend of Peabody’s who collects stereo equipment, gave Peabody one of the pieces for the Scorsese/Jagger pilot. It was a 1960s H.H. Scott tube receiver AM/FM amplifier in a walnut cabinet. Baldwin said Peabody “still has to find me one” to replace it.

Peabody bought 30 pieces of equipment in 2012 from an estate auction of items in Beverly Hills from the recording studio of Les Paul, a pioneer of the solid-body electric guitar. Two pieces remain.

The Peabody home is filled with pop, rock and jazz, said Peabody’s wife, Dianne, who also works at the store. “Every room has music. So does the garage and the patio,” she said. Yes, Pink Floyd, Miles Davis and The Beatles are among their favorites.

Peabody played bass with rock bands, Street Life in the ’70s and The Blades in the ’80s. He also plays guitar and keyboard.

“Nostalgia has been a big part of it,” Peabody said of what drives Sounds Classic’s sales. Customers tell him: “I wanted this so much in high school in the ’70s, but I couldn’t afford it then.” Or, “My dad had this stereo.”

And nostalgia is one of the reasons vinyl records, too, are popular again, he said.

The HBO pilot about rock in the ’70s isn’t the only production for which Sounds Classic has provided equipment. Others include: “Hi-Fidelity” (2000) and last year’s “Phil Spector” on HBO.

Oh, and maybe you spotted old KEF speakers Sounds Classic provided for the “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” which opened this weekend in theaters.

In my world, though, nostalgia isn’t enough to lure me to want to see the science fiction film. I routinely bypass every “Planet of the Apes” rerun when I’m scrolling through TV channels.

But I can’t wait to see the Jagger/Scorsese rock ‘n’ roll show expected to air next year.

Guess that means I’ll have to upgrade our cable package to get HBO. If only my dollar was worth what it was in the ’70s.

Georgette Braun: 815-987-1331; gbraun@rrstar.com; @georgettebraun

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